adminMelody Baya Court Reporter
A MAN from Bulawayo’s Emganwini suburb has been arrested for allegedly repeatedly hitting his sick four year-old daughter with a blunt object for refusing to eat, leading to the child being admitted to Mpilo Central Hospital.
A court heard yesterday that the child is in a critical condition.
Nqobile Tembo, 31, told Provincial Magistrate Abednico Ndebele that he lost his temper when the girl refused to eat.
“I never meant to hurt my daughter. I just lost control as she was refusing to eat and constantly vomiting.
“She is a very sick child and I made a mistake by assaulting her with an Android phone cable, forgive me your worship,” said Tembo.
Ndebele did not ask him to plead to an ill-treatment and neglect of children charge and he remanded him in custody to April 6.
“My daughter’s mother ran away to South Africa and dumped her at my house. I have since remarried,” said Tembo.
Rhoda Moyo, the child’s grandmother, reported the abuse to the police.
Moyo in her warned and cautioned statement said she discovered the abuse after she visited the girl.
“I took the girl to the bedroom and removed her clothes. That’s when I observed that she had bruises all over her body. I removed her panties and observed that her private parts have sores and blood. I immediately decided to report the issue to the police,” said Moyo.
Prosecuting, Mufaro Mageza told the court that on an unknown date in March 2016, Tembo used an unknown blunt object to hit the tot all over her body.
Online Reporter